Category: Desserts

Filling:
1 10-oz. Package of frozen red raspberries
2 cups of canned sour pitted cherries (drained)
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter
¼ teaspoon salt
milk and sugar (to top the crust)

Directions:
1. Thaw frozen raspberries (save the juice) and add enough of the juice from the cherries to make 1 cup liquid.
2. In a sauce pan mix sugar, corn starch and salt. Stir in one cup of juice. Add cherries and cook over medium heat until thick and clear. Cook one more minute. Remove from heat and very gently fold in raspberries.
3. Pour into pastry-lined pie dish. Add top crust. Seal edges, moisten top with hot milk and sprinkle with sugar. Cut seam vents. Bake 350 for about 45 minutes. This pie is extra pretty with a lattice top.

Perfect Pie Crust

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tablespoons super rich butter powder
1 cup Criscoâ shortening
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup ice water

Directions:
1. Mix the flours and butter powder and cut in the shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Beat together the other ingredients and stir into the flour. Mix just until it is incorporated.
3. Form into a disk , wrap in plastic wrap and chill.
4. Roll out about 1/3 of the dough between 2 sheets of wax paper and line pie dish.

– 2003 1st Place Pumpkin
By Marles Riessland, Riverdale, NE

Pie Crust

3 c all purpose flour
1 t salt
1 t sugar
1 c plus 1 T, butter flavored shortening, chilled
1/3 c ice water
1 T vinegar
1 egg, beaten

Chill all ingredients, including the flour and vinegar. Combine the flour, salt and sugar. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles cornmeal. In another bowl, mix water and vinegar with the beaten egg. Add the liquid mixture, one tablespoon at a time, to the flour mixture, tossing with a fork to form a soft dough.

Shape into three discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator at least three hours, before attempting to roll out. (Overnight actually works best). Hold no more than three days in refrigerator. For longer storage, place in a freezer bag and freeze. Use one disc for a single crust pie. Use two discs for a double crust pie. To roll out for pies, work quickly on a floured pastry cloth. Flip the dough at least once adding a little more flour to the pastry cloth. Roll out to fit pie pan. (Store pastry cloth in freezer).

Filling

2 eggs, beaten
1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin
¾ c sugar
½ t salt
1 t cinnamon
¼ t ginger
¼ t cloves
2 T pure maple syrup
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

Beat eggs until frothy. Add all remaining ingredients in order given, beating only until well blended. Pour filling into crust. Bake in 375 oven for 25 minutes.

Pecan CrumbleTopping

½ cup flour
½ c chopped pecans
¼ c packed brown sugar
3 T butter, softened

Combine above ingredients. Remove pie from oven and sprinkle topping over filling. Return pie to oven and bake 25 minutes more or until center is set.

– Best of Show 2003
By Raine Gottess, Celebration, FL

Crust
15-18 Keebler Pecan Sandie Cookies (crushed)
¼ c butter (melted)

Stir butter into finely crushed cookies with fork. Press into 9” pie pan to shape crust. Freeze to firm

Layer #1
2oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened)
2 c cool whip
1 T sugar
¼ confectioner’s sugar

Beat all ingredients in mixer until blended, spread onto crust and freeze while making next layers

Layer #2
4 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened)
¾ c confectioner’s sugar
4 c cool whip
¾ cup peanut butter
2 oz melted Bakers German Sweet Chocolate baking squares

Beat 1st three ingredients together until blended. Divide into two bowls. Add the peanut butter to one and spread on top of pie. Freeze

Add the melted Bakers German Sweet Chocolate Baking Squares to the second bowl, beat and spread on top of pie.

Decorate with Cool Whip

Can be kept frozen and cut to serve.

– 2003 1st Place Apple
By Marles Riessland, Riverdale, NE

Pie Crust

3 c all purpose flour
1 t salt
1 t sugar
1 c plus 1 T, butter flavored shortening, chilled
1/3 c ice water
1 T vinegar
1 egg, beaten

Chill all ingredients, including the flour and vinegar. Combine the flour, salt and sugar. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles cornmeal. In another bowl, mix water and vinegar with the beaten egg. Add the liquid mixture, one tablespoon at a time, to the flour mixture, tossing with a fork to form a soft dough.

Filling

6 c apples (Jonathan or Granny Smith)
½ c packed light brown sugar
½ c sugar
¼ c flour
1 t cinnamon
¼ t nutmeg
¼ t salt
1 T lemon juice
1 t vanilla
4 T heavy cream
4 T butter

Heat oven to 450. Peel and slice apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and add apples. Toss to mix. Add vanilla and cream. Melt butter in heavy skillet. Add apple mixture and cook approximately 8 minutes, to soften apples. Turn into pie shell.

Streusel Topping

½ c flour
3 T sugar
1 T butter
2 chocolate covered toffee bars or 3 oz chocolate covered peanut or pecan brittle

Combine the flour and sugar. Mix in butter with fork until coarse crumbs. Crush 2 chocolate covered toffee bars and stir into streusel mixture. Sprinkle over pie. Add top crust. Seal, flute edge and vent top. Brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake 45 minutes longer.

2005 First Place Apple Category
Raquel Hammond

Apple-Praline Pie

Extra Flaky Pastry Double Crust:

2 cups unbleached flour
1-cup cake flour
1 ½ Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
8 Tbsp (1 stick) frozen unsalted butter, cut up
½ cup plus 2 Tbsp frozen Crisco shortening, cut up
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 large egg yolk
4 to 5 Tbsp ice water, or as needed
¼ cup crushed cornflakes
*Egg glaze: 1 large egg white with 1 Tbsp water added

Whisk together dry ingredients in large bowl. Add the butter and shortening. Using pastry blender cut in fat until mixture resembles dry rice. Add egg yolk, vinegar, and minimum amount of water. Lightly toss until mixture just begins to clump together. If dough looks too dry, sprinkle on a little more water. Dough should cling together and feel pliable, but not sticky.

Form dough into a cohesive ball, on a piece of waxed paper, by lifting opposite corners and pressing them together. Flatten into 6-inch disk for single shell, or divide in half and make two disks for two-crust pie. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or even overnight (the longer the better). Soften dough at room temperature, for a few minutes before rolling out.

Brush bottom of shell and sides with egg glaze. Carefully spread a ¼ cup of crushed cornflakes on the bottom as well. Add filling, attach top crust then flute edge. Bake as directed, then spread on the praline topping.

Filling:
5 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
4 cups Braeburn apples, peeled, cored and sliced
½ cup apple cider
½ cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
¾ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut up
Apple-Praline Pie

Praline Topping

½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
2 Tbsp heavy cream
¼ tsp cinnamon

Roll out bottom crust and line 9” pie plate. Rollout top crust and refrigerate both for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine apples and cider in large pot. Bring to boil, cover and cook over med-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Drain apples, reserving juice. Transfer juice to small saucepan and reduce to ¼ cup over med-high heat. Stir into apples and set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir into apple cider- mixture. Pour filling into pie shell and dot with butter.

Attach top crust and flute edge. Poke several steam vents in top with fork or paring knife. Bake 425 degrees for 15 minutes in lower third of oven. Raise rack to center and bake an additional 45 to 50 minutes. Check halfway through baking and cover pastry with foil, if browning too quickly.

Transfer pie to wire rack and cool. Meanwhile, prepare praline: melt ¼ cup butter in small saucepan. Stir in ½ cup brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and heavy cream. Bring slowly to boil. Remove from heat and stir in chopped pecans. Spread evenly over cooled pie and broil until topping bubbles and turns golden brown.

Transfer pie, once again, to wire rack and cool for at least 2 hours. Slice and serve. Cover leftovers with loosely tented foil and refrigerate.

Pastry Dough:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2-teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup cold Crisco shortening
4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

In a food processor, add flour and salt. Pulse to mix. Add cold butter and Crisco, which has been cut into small pieces. Pulse 6 to 8 times until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small pea-size butter lumps. Drizzle 4 tablespoons ice water evenly over and pulse 3-4 times more until dough holds together. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time until dough holds together. Form into 2 balls, and then flatten each into a disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Divide dough into 2 pieces. On a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin roll out one piece of dough into a 10-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Fit a 9-inch pie plate with one piece of dough and flute edges. Reserve 2nd piece of dough for another time. Refrigerate (or freeze) while preparing filling

Filling:

2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2-cup sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2-teaspoon salt
1/2-teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8-teaspoon ground allspice
1/8-teaspoon ground cloves
1/8-teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 cups canned solid pack pumpkin
2 tablespoons mild-flavored (light) molasses
3 large eggs
1 cup whipping cream

Place baking sheet in oven and preheat to 450°F. Whisk first 8 ingredients together in large bowl to blend. Whisk in pumpkin, molasses, eggs, and whipping cream. Pour mixture into frozen crust. Place pie on preheated baking sheet in oven. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F and bake until sides puff and center is just set, about 40 minutes. Cool completely. Preheat broiler. Prepare Walnut-Crunch topping.

Walnut-Crunch Topping:

4 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped walnuts
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1-cup whipping cream plus 3 Tbsp powdered sugar

In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt butter. Stir in walnuts and brown sugar and mix until well mixed. Spoon evenly over pie. Broil pie 3 minutes, 5 to 7 inches from broiler, or until topping is golden and sugar dissolves. Cool pie again on wire rack.

In a small bowl, beat heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar with electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Pipe around edge of cooled pie.

These are inspired by the squash & cream cheese bars at the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op. I snagged the crust from my Lemon Bars and the filling from a Pampered Chef recipe.

Crust:
2 c flour (9 oz)
.5 c sugar (4 oz)
1 t lemon zest
pinch salt
1 c butter (8 oz)

Filling:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg

Batter:
1 c. pumpkin, roasted and pureed (8.5 oz) (can sub canned)
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 c. flour (4.5 oz)
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine dry topping ingredients in food processor, pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Press into a greased 9×13 pan.

Bake until lightly browned, 20-25 min.

Increase oven temp to 375F.

Whisk together filling ingredients; set aside.

For the batter, combine the pumpkin, sugar, egg, and oil; mix well. In a large bowl stir together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and ginger. Stir wet ingredients into dry, do not overmix.

Pour batter onto crust.

Drizzle cream cheese mixture over batter. Cut through batter with knife several times for marbled effect. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool; cut into squares.

My mom sent me this recipe and it is SO good. And I don’t even like Heath bars! I’m still monkeying with the refrigerator time to get the spread just right. I also cut the size of the cookies back so my baking & cooling times aren’t 100%

2.5 oz (½ cup) flour
1 teas. Baking powder
¼ teas. Salt
1 lb. Bittersweet chocolate, I use Ghiradelli
2 oz (¼ cup) unsalted butter
13 oz. (1 ¾ cup) light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
1 tbl. Vanilla
5 (1.4 oz) heath bars (or similar)
4.25 oz (1 cup) walnuts or pecans, toasted

Combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside

Microwave chocolate and butter until almost melted, 1-3 minutes. Stir to melt fully, cool to lukewarm

With electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl until thick, about five minutes. Beat in the chocolate mixture, vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture (don’t overmix) then the toffee and nuts.
Chill until firm, at least 45 minutes. If you let it chill too long it will be very difficult to scoop and you’ll have to let it sit at room temperature for a while.

To speed things up you can scoop the dough onto cookie sheets then freeze for 20 minutes or so, then bake.

Heat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment. Portion out golfball size lumps of dough, I use a #24 disher. Bake until dry and cracked on top but soft to the touch in the center, about 10-12 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 min, then remove to a wire rack.

Dip pineapple slices in coconut milk. Dip in 1.5c sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon.

Oil grill grate

Grill on high 4-6 minutes per side.

Serve with ice cream

This tart is a perfect choice when you don’t have enough berries for a cobbler (my all-time favorite.)

Tart Pastry (Pâte Sucrée)
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces)
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar (about 2 3/4 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), very cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Filling
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large egg plus 1 egg white
1/2 cup sugar , plus 1 tablespoon
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Kirsch or framboise, optional
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Wondra flour
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 half-pint containers fresh blackberries (about 10 ounces total), picked over

1. For the tart pastry: Whisk together yolk, cream, and vanilla in small bowl. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in food processor with four 1-second pulses. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture; pulse to cut butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal, about twenty 1-second pulses. With machine running, add egg mixture and process until dough comes together, about 12 seconds. Turn dough onto sheet of plastic wrap and press into 6-inch disk; wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

2. Remove dough from refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). Unwrap and roll out between lightly floured large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to 11-inch round. (If dough becomes soft and sticky, slip onto baking sheet and refrigerate until workable.) Transfer dough to tart pan by rolling dough loosely over rolling pin and unrolling over 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Working around circumference of pan, ease dough into pan by gently lifting dough with one hand while pressing dough into corners and sides of pan with other hand. Press dough into fluted sides of pan, patching breaks or cracks if necessary. (If some edges are too thin, reinforce sides by folding excess dough back on itself.) Run rolling pin over top of tart pan to remove excess dough. Set dough-lined tart pan on baking sheet or large plate and freeze 30 minutes. (Frozen dough-lined tart pan can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and frozen up to 1 month.)

3. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Set dough-lined tart pan on baking sheet; lightly spray one side of 18-inch square heavy-duty extra-wide foil with nonstick cooking spray. Press foil greased side down inside frozen tart shell, folding excess foil over edge of pan; fill with metal or ceramic pie weights. Bake until pastry appears dry and pale gold under foil and edges have just begun to color, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. Remove from oven and carefully remove foil and weights by gathering edges of foil and pulling up and out. Return baking sheet with tart shell to oven and bake until sides are medium golden brown, about 5 minutes; set on wire rack to cool.

4. For the filling: While tart shell is cooling, heat butter in small saucepan with light-colored interior over medium heat; cook, swirling or stirring occasionally, until butter smells nutty and milk solids at bottom are golden brown, about 7 minutes. Transfer butter to small heatproof bowl to stop cooking; cool butter until just warm to touch. Whisk egg and egg white in medium bowl until combined; add sugar and salt whisk vigorously until light colored, about 1 minute. Whisk in warm browned butter until combined; then whisk in vanilla, framboise, and lemon zest and juice. Whisk in Wondra flour, then whisk in cream until combined.

5. Add berries and bake: Distribute blackberries in single tightly packed layer in bottom of cooled tart shell. Pour filling mixture evenly over blackberries. Place tart on baking sheet in oven. Bake until fragrant and filling is set (does not jiggle when shaken), bubbling lightly around edges, and surface is puffed and deep golden brown, about 30 minutes, rotating sheet pan after about 20 minutes for even browning. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, at least 1 1/2 or up to 6 hours. Remove tart pan ring; slide thin-bladed spatula between tart pan bottom and crust to loosen, then slide tart onto serving platter. Cut into wedges and serve.